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ThunderThighsMegee OP t1_jdhku2f wrote

Reply to comment by Black-Sam-Bellamy in Recommendations for accurate books on Norse mythology? by ThunderThighsMegee

I don’t have many questions but my family comes from Norway and Finland, so my great grandma used to tell me Norse tales when I was little. Now that I’m older I’m curious about what they believed at the time and would like to read more stories that I never heard. One of my favorites that I can recall was her telling me about Tyr being left handed (I’m left handed), it made me feel cool 😂

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Black-Sam-Bellamy t1_jdhligm wrote

Well, he didn't have much choice in the matter!

It's important to try and approach the texts from a scholarly position, the prose Edda for example is one of the most complete and comprehensive records of Norse mythology but was written with the intent of providing a framework for court skalds in Scandinavia, written by a Christian for a Christian audience. one thing it's important to understand is that the Norse mythology was almost certainly not practiced on a comprehensive and thorough scale, stories and practices would have varied widely from area to area and over time as well. It's why I find reading the sagas interesting because the mythology is sprinkled through, and presented in a more day-to-day fashion

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